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Velociraptor
Velociraptor mongoliensis is a genus of dromaeosaurid dinosaur from late cretaceous Mongolia. Made famous by jurassic park this small dromaeosaur is only about the size of a turkey, smaller than most other dromaeosaurs like Utahraptor, Deinonychus, Achillobator and Dromaeosaurus. General Description Velociraptor was a small theropod dinosaur belonging to the dromaeosaurid group. this turkey size dinosaur was a carnivore with a long slender snout and a large sickle claw on the second toe of each foot. Like most theropods velociraptor didn't chew, the small serrated teeth in its jaws were designed for tearing flesh rather than chewing. It's strong chest and arm muscles were the perfect tools to hold on to struggling prey while the killing blow was delivered. Not much was know about the dietary habits of velociraptor until the discovery of the death pose in 1971. The death pose is a fossil of a struggle between velociraptor and the small ceratopsian protoceratops. The right arm of velociraptor is clasped in the bony beak of protoceratops and the leg of velociraptor is pushing into protoceratops's side.this remarkable fossil is so well preserved because in the middle of this intense struggle a sand dune collapsed killing both of them. From this fossil we can presume that velociraptor hunted protoceratops but in a pack wa s probably capable of bringing down larger prey such as saurolophus. Velociraptor's diet may also have included small mammals, lizards and insects. As the death pose shows velociraptor shares many traits with other dromaeosaurs. An example of this is the stiffened tail which would have been used to balance the dinosaur, this would have proved very useful whilst chasing prey as it meant that velociraptor could run down the prey before it got tired. Although the tail was stiffened it was still flexible and had a lot of movement at where the tail joined the hip. In the Jurassic movies velociraptor is portrayed as a medium size carnivore taller than a man where as in reality it would only have come up to the waist of an average sized person. Another mistake that Jurassic Park made was that they didn't give velociraptor feathers. Although no feathers have been found it is still highly likely that velociraptor was feathered as many of it's close relatives are feathered. Senses Velociraptor's were one of the smartest dinosaurs according to brain to body ratio as compare to the brains of other dinosaurs their brains were huge. Analysis on the skull of velociraptor shows that it had very large eye and probably had three dimensional vision. This analysis also shows that it had excellent hearing like it's modern relatives birds and crocodiles, so it is not surprising that dinosaurs also had good hearing. Along with it's binocular vision and hearing velociraptor also had a very good sense of smell as research shows that it had a very large olfactory bulb meaning it was very sensitive to touch and smell. Velociraptor's binocular vision would have proved a huge asset in hunting prey as it would have enabled it to see the world in three dimensions. Food Velociraptor is a small carnivore around the size of turkey. It probably hunted what ever it wanted and what ever it could catch. Due to is small size it is likely that velociraptor hunted small herbivorous dinosaurs, small mammals and lizards. However scientists believe that velociraptor was a highly social animal, as i6t's skeletal remains have been found in close proximity to each other. As it was likely a pack hunter packs of velociraptor would likely have been able to take down animals many time their size. they use their strong arms tipped in three clawed fingers to hold their prey while another animal delivers a killer blow. Predatory Behaviour It has suggested that velociraptors where highly social pack hunters that work as a team to bring own large prey animals. This kind of behaviour has only been seen in certain birds and advanced mammals but it is quite likely that this technique of hunting was founded by dinosaurs like velociraptor. Although the intelligence of this animal is unknown it is highly likely that it was fairly intelligent and possible cable of advanced problem solving behaviour. This suggest that a pack of velociraptor would have been able to communicate and work as a team to bring down animals many times larger than themselves. In Popular Culture *Velociraptor appeared in all 4 Jurrasic park movies as a bad guy/villain. *It also appeared in Chased by Dinosaurs: The Giant Claw where a pack of Velociraptor chased and killed a large male protoceratops. *Velociraptor also stared in the Discovery channel documentery Dinosaur Revolution. *It has appearein many toy lines and has become the most famous raptor. *It also appeared in the BBC documentery The Truth About Killer Dinosaurs where it is proved that the sickle claw on its feet was not used for disemboweling. *It has also stared in one Episode of Primeval and also in one of the Primeval books. *Velociraptor made an appearance in Dinosaur Planet where one who episode focuses on a single VelociraptorC.jpg Velociraptor Wyoming Dinosaur Center.jpg Velociraptor Mongoliensis.jpg Whitetip.jpg The Truth About Killer Dinosaurs Velociraptor.jpg female Velociraptor's journey to find a pack. Category:Dromaeosaurids Category:Dinosaurs Category:Saurischia Category:Carnivores Category:Dromaeosaurs Category:Saurischians Category:Small Carnivores Category:Cretaceous Animals Category:Cretaceous Dinosaurs Category:Cretaceous Period Category:Late Cretaceous Dinosaurs Category:Dinosaurs Of Asia Category:Theropods Category:Raptors Category:Feathered Dinosaurs Category:Jurassic Park III Category:Jurassic Park Category:Jurassic Park: The Lost World Category:Prehistoric Life Category:Apex Predators Category:Creatures Category:Dinosaur Revolution Category:Birds Category:Walking With Dinosaurs Category:Archosaurs Category:Coelurosaurs Category:Apex Predator Category:Insectivore Category:The Truth About Killer Dinosaurs